Wyatt’s voice cracked with excitement. “I think if we keep pushing the top, we could pivot it from vertical to horizontal. Then we could crawl underneath.”
Darryl, AJ, and Jason joined them. Susan made no move to get up. She was sitting on a boulder, shoulders drooping, her face slack and vacant. Zion squeezed in next to his grandpa, but he was too short to reach as high as the others.
“Hey, buddy, why don’t you pull at the bottom?” Wyatt suggested to Zion. He counted again. “Okay, one, two, three!”
After covering up the worst of Beatriz’s cuts, Natalia tugged a sock over one flip-flop, working to get the sock’s heel to match the sandal’s heel. The other girl sucked in her breath but didn’t complain. Blue nosed her with a low whine. Beatriz put her arm around him and gave him a squeeze.
“He seems pretty chill,” Natalia observed as Susan reached out to pet him. Dogs usually made her nervous, but she was starting to relax around Blue.
“He’s the best. My sister’s kids like to dress him up, and he just sits there and lets them. Even when we all laugh at how ridiculous he looks.”
Natalia finished tugging on the second sock. As the guys worked on the gate, Beatriz got to her feet. She took a couple of tentative steps and then some more confident ones. “That feels good. Way more like a real shoe. Thanks, Ryan.”
“Slipper socks have the sole on the outside. I’m worried the socks will wear out too fast.” He snapped the fingers of his unburned hand. “Didn’t I see some duct tape in Wyatt’s first aid kit?”
When Natalia asked if they could use the duct tape, Wyatt nodded absently, focused on the progress they were making. She located it in his pack and held out the flattened roll to Ryan. “Do you think there’s enough?”
He narrowed his eyes. “It’s hard to say. Wrap the toes and heels first and then if there’s enough you can fill in the rest.”
Natalia tore off a strip. When she pressed it on she realized she hadn’t made it long enough to meet at the top.
“For the next strip, try unwinding some tape and using the back to measure before you tear,” Beatriz suggested.
Natalia did. Adding first a strip to the right foot and then to the left, she gradually wrapped up Beatriz’s feet. Meanwhile, the bottom edge of the gate had now been forced about six inches above the ground. It wasn’t yet big enough for even Zion to fit underneath, but they were definitely making progress. Everyone was panting from the pushing, so Wyatt called for a five-minute break.
After Natalia pressed the last piece of duct tape into place, Beatriz crowed, “Disco boots!” She leaned back and kicked her feet in the air.
“Just be careful,” Ryan said. “They’re probably slick.”
Beatriz squeezed his good hand in thanks and then hugged Natalia. One of Beatriz’s braids pressed into her cheek, and Natalia could smell the sweet, flowery scent of her shampoo.
As she looked over Beatriz’s shoulder, her gaze snagged on AJ.
Even in the fading light, he looked pale and sweaty. He seemed to be panting. And he had one hand pressed to his chest.
“Are you okay, AJ?”
“It’s just—my chest hurts.” His panicked eyes met Natalia’s. “I think I’m having a heart attack.”
CHAPTER 9
FIVE THINGS YOU CAN SEE
9:28 P.M.
IGNORING HER OWN RACING heart, Natalia moved closer to AJ. “What makes you think you’re having a heart attack?”
Any confidence she had gained evaporated. When it came to heart attacks, the Red Cross focused on the brief window between calling 9-1-1 and having real professionals take over.
But there were no paramedics out here. No ambulance. No sterile surfaces. No technology. No operating room. No board-certified surgeon. There was just Natalia and whatever she remembered from a few classes.
AJ’s face was pale, his eyes wide. One hand was pressed against the center of his rib cage. “Every time I pushed on the gate, I felt this sharp pain in my chest. And now my heart is racing! What if it keeps going faster and faster?”
His expression made it clear he was sure of the answer: if it did, then he would die.
Wyatt whispered into Natalia’s ear. “I know CPR, but not what to do with someone who has a pulse and is breathing.”
“I’ll try to figure out what’s happening.” She just hoped it didn’t come to needing Wyatt’s skills. “Can you get people to give us some space?”
Wyatt clapped his hands. “Hey, guys, why don’t we go back to pushing and let Natalia help AJ?” Beatriz took AJ’s place at the gate. Even Lisa carefully set a half-asleep Trask on Ryan’s lap, then joined the others. Only Susan stayed where she was.
It was a relief for Natalia not to have every eye on her. But if AJ really was having a heart attack, what could she realistically do?
Natalia could think of only one thing that might help. Digging through her first aid kit, she found the foil package of aspirin. “Do you have any problems with blood clotting?”
“No.” AJ’s voice shook, as if she was about to reveal some awful new piece of information. “Why?”
She pressed one of the two tablets into his sweaty hand. “Take this. But don’t swallow it—chew it. It will get in your system faster.” If it was a heart attack, aspirin would help inhibit the platelets that triggered clotting. Clots choked off blood flow, which led to tissue damage. An aspirin might lessen the effects.
And if AJ wasn’t having a heart attack, one aspirin shouldn’t hurt him.
She was getting ahead of herself. Natalia made herself go step by step. It took all her powers of concentration to ignore the smoke thickening the air and the roar of the fire as it ate its way toward them.
ABC. The only thing AJ had in his mouth was the aspirin he was chewing. When she asked him to take two deep breaths, they didn’t sound labored. With a heart attack, deep breathing should hurt. But AJ didn’t wince, his brows didn’t draw together, his jaw wasn’t clenched. She had to check his pulse, and this time it was important that she actually count. She called out to the others. “Does anyone have a watch with a second hand?”
“I have a Fitbit with a timer,” Darryl said. He stepped away from the gate, with Zion trailing after him. He pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head as he raised his wrist.
“Dude, why are you even still wearing those things?” Jason asked. “If you haven’t noticed, the sun’s gone down.”
It still wasn’t fully dark, partly because it was summer. And partly because of the fire lighting the horizon. But it was pretty dim.
Darryl pressed his lips together. “They’re prescription. My other glasses are back in the car. And without glasses, I can’t see more than a couple of feet away.”
“Come on, guys,” Beatriz said. “We need to keep pushing.” Next to her, Marco kept up a steady, light cough.
Natalia took AJ’s wrist and rolled her fingers until she found the notch. “Okay, Darryl, tell me when to start and then time thirty seconds.”
A light flared on Darryl’s wrist. “Ready?” he said. “Go.”
She started counting beats to herself, ignoring Wyatt’s cries of, “One, two, three—push!” Under her fingertips, AJ’s pulse was fast but steady. She had reached sixty-seven when Darryl said, “Stop.”